Google Alerts: What they are and how they can help your practice

We all know Google, many of us using their search algorithms daily when we “Google” products, services or people online. For business owners, Google has become a research tool, allowing for “quick and dirty” searches of information about themselves and competitors.

Taking advantage of Google’s free tools, such as alerts, can help you manage your marketing budget.

As more people are moving to the web to find information about healthcare providers (read my posts about online physician ratings here and here), it pays for private practice owners to know what is being said about their practice in online news publications and throughout the blogosphere. With more and more print publications simultaneously funneling their news stories online, web searches now provide a means by which to search local print media who may be publishing information about a practice from recent press releases, sponsorships or other local news stories.
Practice owners and managers don’t have the time to search the Internet daily for news stories or commentary about their practice, but they do have the time to take advantage of Google Alerts in order to have Google scour the web for them. With Google Alerts, you simply enter the keywords you’d like searched, enter in a frequency of which you’d like the results sent to you by email, and you’re done. You’ll soon be getting email in your inbox telling you exactly what is being said about your practice online – a great way to keep tabs on your practice’s brand in a way that is efficient, easy and effective.This article from BizGrowthNews provides some more information about the benefits of this great tool.

I recommend putting in place a once-a-day Google Alert which you can then review at the start of each day.Items that feature in the news, in blogs or on the web can be included in the alert.